Shuff Shines at Diamond Billiards

Jul

Brandon Shuff took down the Action Pool Tour’s second event of the season, going through a tough field filled with top names to best Larry Kressel in the finals. The tournament was hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA, the weekend of July 9-10 and attracted a respectable field of 49 participants.

Shuff took down the Action Pool Tour’s second event of the season, going through a tough field filled with top names to best Larry Kressel in the finals. Left to right: Thomas Dorsey (owner-Diamond Billiards), Brandon Shuff, Larry Kressel, Ozzy Reynolds.

The second day began with the undefeated Shuff winning over Danny Mastermaker and Brett Stottlemyer besting Chris Bruner, both by a score of 9-7. Meanwhile, Ozzy Reynolds squeaked by John Newton 9-8, while Eric Moore deposited Larry Kressel on the west side 9-5. The final four on the winners’ side provided two matches that were not as close as expected. In a bit of revenge from an earlier tournament loss this year, Shuff easily handled Reynolds 9-4, while Moore defeated Stottlemyer by the same score. This set up the match-up for the hot seat between Shuff and Moore in which Shuff sailed past Moore 9-2.

On the one-loss side Kressel began carving his path to the finals with five straight wins by defeating Jeremy Perkins 9-5, John Mitcheltree 9-2, Reynolds 9-7, Newton 9-3, and Moore 9-3. This set the stage for Shuff and Kressel, who are also roommates, to face off in the finals. Kressel would have had to defeat Shuff twice to take the win. The match was a nail-biter throughout and the score eventually reached 7-7 with Kressel to break. However, his break came up dry, and Shuff ran out to make it 8-7. With Shuff on the hill and having the break, the situation looked bleak for Kressel. True to form, Shuff crushed the rack and ran out to take the win.